Cable television service has become a dominant vehicle for the delivery of electronic entertainment content throughout the United States, and in many parts of the world. Modern cable systems, which were originally designed to deliver analog RF television signals now largely deliver encoded digital data at very high speeds over a conventional, low-loss coaxial cable or a combination of fiber-optic and coaxial cables with appropriate interfaces therebetween. These signals are employed in two-way communication between a cable subscriber and the operator.
A common application involving both two-way communications is the delivery of so-called digital cable service. In a digital cable implementation, the subscriber receives broadcast television signals in digital form via MPEG, TCP/IP or another type of communication. The digital signal is typically received at the subscriber's location by a digital set top box. The set top box is, in essence, a small computer that converts received digital signals into NTSC (or another format) signal capable of being displayed on a conventional television. Most set top boxes, in fact, provide a variety of output connectors that deliver the video signal to a television or display monitor in a variety of formats including S-video, composite and component.
A set top box is a networked computing device. Taking advantage of the availability of two-way digital communication over the line, the set to box can act as a portal through which the subscriber can interact with the head-end server and remote network beyond. Practically all set top boxes accommodate a remote control, that transmits IR (infrared) and/or RF (radio frequency) signals to the box to operate its various functions. Typically set top box functions are displayed via menu screens that often emulate the look and feel of a personal computer's graphical user interface (GUI) display. The remote allows the user to scroll through menu items and highlight the item of interest. Remotes often include a conventional cursor that can be moved about the screen via a four-way toggle to more closely match the point-and-click experience of a personal computer.
Many set top boxes and cable providers now provide functioning web browsers that are accessed by the appropriate remote control buttons and/or menu screens that are displayed on the television. These browsers support certain interactive functions allow entered subscriber requests to be delivered from the server's storage or from the Internet.
Furthermore, the use of mobile or cellular telephones is now extremely common and most available telephones support Short Message Service (SMS) or “text” messaging applications and include small graphical user interface (GUI) display screens for creating and reading such messages (as well as other activities, such as picture/video viewing, games and the like). An SMS message (or simply, “SMS”) is convenient way to communicate without need of a voice exchange. Moreover, SMS messages can include embedded hyperlinks (also simply termed, “link(s)”) that are transmitted back to a service provider and allow responses from an Internet based content provider via the cellular network. These responses can include downloads to the cellular telephone of requested content from the provider. A technique that further facilitates downloads of such content is also desirable.
On the other hand, the prior art communication systems do not have ability to access all notifications and actions occurring on unmanaged communication devices or mobile devices or phones using TV, and to manage such device activities from TV screen.